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Inc. has agree to shell out more than $400 million to settle consumer claims that is colluded with publishers including HarperCollins and Hachette Book Group to fix e-book prices, according to New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman.

The iPhone maker's settlement stems from a July 2013 ruling in New York federal court that it conspired with the five major U.S. publishers to keep e-book prices high in the face of on-going competition and discounting from . Whether or not Apple has to pay the amount is contingent on the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant's current appeal to the finding that it violated antitrust laws.

“This settlement proves that even the biggest, most powerful companies in the world must play by the same rules as everyone else,” said Attorney General Schneiderman in a statement. “In a major victory, our settlement has the potential to result in Apple paying hundreds of millions of dollars to consumers to compensate them for paying unlawfully inflated e-book prices."

If Apple's appeal is not successful, the company will pay $400 million to consumers as well as $20 million to 33 states to revolve claims for incurred legal costs and penalties. That amount will be in addition to the $166 million that the five major U.S. publishers--Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster--have doled out to e-book purchasers according to Schneiderman.

In the event that Apple's appeal is successful and the case must be retried, the company would be liable to possibly pay a reduced amount of $50 million, or no money at all if a judge determines that it did not violate anti-trust laws.

Apple's settlement comes at the time of a well-documented dog fight between Hachette and Amazon as they hash out pricing for e-books in new contracts. Hachette is the first of the five major publishers to renegotiate e-book terms with the Seattle online retailer since the Apple antitrust ruling last year. With a great deal of finger-pointing from both sides, an agreement has yet to be made between the two companies.